Fourth Sunday of Lent With this Sunday, Laetare Sunday, we are more than halfway through the season of Lent.  Laetare is Latin for "rejoice."  The First Reading is from the Book of Joshua, Chapter 5, verses 9-12.  After 40 years of traveling through the desert, the Israelites have finally entered the Promised Land.  Their entry into the Promised Land fulfills the pledge made by God, not only to Moses and the Israelites, but to Abraham and his ancestors: that the Israelites would be given a land of their own.  Now, they will no longer be eating the manna which God has been providing, nor will they be travelers in a foreign land - they are home! They have arrived in the land of Canaan; a land flowing with milk and honey.  They will reap the harvest planted by their own hands and they celebrate the Passover Feast.  What a transition from bondage to freedom - from being wanderers in a foreign land to entering a land promised to their ancestors. There was good reason for rejoicing. We who are in the midst of our Lenten penance also have a reason for rejoicing.  The promised land toward which we are journeying is heaven, where we hope to reside forever in eternal happiness and peace.  As we continue with our Lenten journey, let us kneel in prayer and ask God to help us remain strong in faith and to lead us through the wilderness of life until we also arrive safely home. Psalm 34, today's Responsorial Psalm, brings forth the feeling of trust in a God who always provides.  When the Israelites turned to God, he heard their cries, and they were saved - God took action.  "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord."  When life takes a difficult turn, we too can 'taste and see' the goodness of the Lord in the times when he has brought us out of the darkness of pain and turmoil and led us into the light of joy and peace. "New and improved" ... "Before and after:"  In the second reading (2 Corinthians 5:17-21), Paul tells us that something radically new has happened to the followers of Christ.  St. Paul is not just talking about turning over a new leaf.  No!  He is telling us that we are a new People!  We are beginning a new life.  Because we are a new people reconciled to God, we now have the duty of encouraging others to do the same.  Paul was a preacher of the Gospel, the Good News; he was a teacher of Christ's values; he was an ambassador for Christ. We, as believers, are given the same mission.  Paul is not asking us to be little plastic saints sitting on the dashboard.  He implores us to be the love, the tenderness, the compassion and the forgiveness that is so needed in the secular world of today.  He calls upon us to exercise a ministry of reconciliation on behalf of all of our brothers and sisters.  Be an ambassador for Christ. Today's Gospel (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32), features a parable that should be called the Story of the Prodigal Father.  The point Jesus makes in this parable is not how bad the son was, but how good the father is - a father so lavish in offering forgiveness, that his other son becomes resentful.  According to the parable son, a man had two sons; the youngest son demanded his inheritance, received it and immediately squandered it, and soon found himself having to work as a swineherd.  One day, he came to his senses and set out for home.  His father saw him coming from a distance and set out to meet him and to welcome him home.  The father embraced him and called out for a robe, a ring and sandals. Those categorized as slaves didn't possess any of these items.  Recall back to a darker part of our United States history when landowners had slaves.  A spiritual which slaves sang in the hope for freedom had the following words: "All God's children got shoes - All God's children have traveling shoes."  Slaves didn't wear shoes.  This forgiving, loving Father calls for shoes for his son.  He called for a feast to celebrate the return of his younger son. At this point, the story takes a sad turn.  The older son is resentful and refuses to join in the celebration.  He is unable to forgive.  In his resentment, he does not even refer to his younger brother as "my brother," but only as "this son of yours."  The story ends without the older son's rejoicing in the feast. Luke's Gospel relates a message emphasizing the father's treatment of the younger son; lesson of mercy and of total, unhesitating forgiveness.  In the reaction of the older brother to the father, a stern warning is issued to the self-righteous who are hardened against the joy of God's goodness and forgiveness.  Apparently, the father had been waiting and looking for the return of his son.  The father loved him while he was still a sinner and offered forgiveness and love. Luke tells that Jesus wants us to be like the father - rejoice, forgive, embrace and love - rather than be like the older son, who isolated himself and gave in to hurts, resentments and feelings of betrayal.  Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees when they attacked him for eating with sinners and tax collectors.  The Pharisees failed to comprehend that the father in the story was God, that the younger son represented the sinners and tax collectors, and that the unforgiving son represented them (the Pharisees). This parable carries a message for us also.  We must not put limits on God's forgiveness.  God invites us to a family party.  Even if we identify with both sons in today's Gospel story, God runs to embrace us with his mercy and forgiveness when we recognize and admit our mistakes, when we name and confess our sins.  Come to the feast!  "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord."  -Sunday, March 21, 2004